Hope springs eternal, and spring training is supposed to be an especially hopeful time for fans of all Major League Baseball clubs, even those who don’t root for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is the only time of the season where all fans can maybe, just maybe, convince themselves that this could be the year.
It’s a great time of year to be a baseball fan.
So why does Major League Baseball keep getting in its own way?
I promise, I’m trying to think positively these days, especially about the Royals and their (real!) shot at capturing the American League Central and getting back to the playoffs after a minor step backward in 2025. I’m reading tons of baseball content while watching baseball movies—even Rookie of the Year, which glorifies the Cubs.
The Cubs! That’s the worst team ever!
Still, Daniel Stern’s movie about exploiting child labor is pretty entertaining. Gary Busey isn’t that weird in it. Hey, there’s John Candy! Solid flick. Made me excited about the upcoming season.
But then Tony Clark happened.
And there’s not great news about Mike Trout.
Oh, and also, the Guardians pitchers remain in the news.
Nothing halts optimism like an ugly concoction of a potential work stoppage, controversy, insurance problems, and a gambling scandal.
Let’s start with the least of it and progressively get worse. Nothing like waiting to tear off the band-aid.
Have you heard of this guy named Mike Trout?
He’s pretty good. Getting up there in age, in relation to baseball. Owns quite a bit of hardware. Breathtaking centerfielder, awesome with the bat. An Angel his entire career, he hasn’t had much success in the playoffs, but c’est la vie, say the old folks.
In the last World Baseball Classic, he cooked in seven games, cracking three home runs en route to a .962 OPS. Iconically, he struck out to end the tournament against his then-MLB teammate, Shohei Ohtani, pitching for Japan, in baseball’s version of the duel of the fates.
Yeah, him. That guy. Mike Trout: Future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.
But he’s been hurt a bunch. That’s the main thing about him these days. Injuries galore. Also, he’s due $35 million in 2026. Turns out he couldn’t get that figure insured, and so he will miss the World Baseball Classic this year.
Sure, he’s diminished. He’s not the player he was when the tournament was last held, but tell me this: wouldn’t you rather see Mike Trout play than Pete Crow-Armstrong? No offense, PCA.
Trout’s not the only star who’s gonna miss the tournament due to insurance issues. Venezuela will be without Jose Altuve, Puerto Rico without Carlos Correa.
What do you call a best-on-best baseball tournament that doesn’t involve the best players because of insurance issues? Probably not best-on-best. Dilutes the product. Softens the enthusiasm. Let the best play. Make it happen.
Back in the American League Central, a gambling controversy continues to linger. Who knew that getting in bed with the gambling world would end up with players embroiled in lawsuits?
Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are the two Guardians pitchers currently staring down the legal system. I won’t get into the whole details of their case(s), but suffice to say, they allegedly (a defense attorney’s favorite word; I should know) rigged pitches.
The case continues. Trial is scheduled for early May, but now could be pushed to October. Great timing, going head-to-head with the playoffs and the World Series, baseball’s marquee event. Guardians could still be on the hook for their salaries this season. Who cares? Dolan has the money. Hell, he probably received (at least) triple what Clase’s set to make for cozying up with bookmakers.
This was always gonna happen. It’s happening in other sports, too, most notably the NBA. Did baseball really think it wouldn’t happen in its own backyard? Naive, if so. Now, it very well might take headlines away from the World Series.
Which could be the last baseball we see for some time.
As fans know, an ugly labor dispute is on the horizon. So ugly that it could cost teams games or possibly even all of 2027. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if that happened. Owners want a salary cap. Players don’t. Major League Baseball is the only North American professional sports league without one. A fight over a salary cap wiped out an entire NHL season some twenty years ago. Time is a flat circle.
To muddy the waters, MLBPA head Tony Clark just resigned. Bizarre stuff. He needed to go, obviously. No argument for keeping him. Bruce Meyer, who joined the MLBPA less than a decade ago from the NHLPA, takes over, at least in the interim, at least for the upcoming labor discussions.
I’m no billionaire owner, but even I know they smell blood in the water. They’re going to do everything they can to sow chaos in the players association, to break it, to get the salary cap and other items, like further shrinking the minors and barring the drafting of high school players. What’s a missed season to the owners? Reap what you sow, but the chaos benefits owners, not players.
Who’re the fans going to turn on? The players, that’s who. Just like ‘94. Took a while to recover.
Talk of the union being stronger under Meyer—fishy. From The Athletic: “Meyer does not have universal support in a fractured player and agent community. A group of players and agents tried to encourage Clark to dismiss Meyer in 2024.”
Like a stagnant, dark cloud, the approaching labor war is going to hover over the entire baseball season. It’s already here. In Spring, a time for hope, there’s that cloud up above.
Whatever progress the Royals make this season, it won’t bleed into 2027.
Because baseball just can’t get out of its own damn way.